| The Sony Ruvi looks like a digital stills camera, and indeed it functioned as one. Like many digicams it could also record moving images, and it's here that the strangeness - and the relevance to Total Rewind - comes in. Because, unlike today's digital cameras, which use solid-state memory, the Ruvi had a built-in Hi8 VCR mechanism. This allowed it to record 30 minutes of video -- much more than a solid-state camera of the era -- or 350 images. It was, in fact, the smallest camcorder available at the time. |
However, rather than a conventional cassette-loading mechanism, the Ruvi had its Hi8 tape permanently enclosed in a cartridge, along with the video head drum!
Although this was removable, it wasn't intended to be a "removable media" cartridge, rather a replacable component. Clearly the cost would have prevented the owner from casually buying multiple cartridges...! |
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| Sony had the first digital camera on sale, the Mavica, which recorded directly onto floppy disc (remember them?) and they persist in the bizarre idea of having moving parts in digital cameras with models that record directly onto DVD. Personally I think this is perverse, but at least the Ruvi (which stands for Recording Unit by Video) makes a great exhibit for my museum! |
